Share of Russians’ savings kept in cash reaches historic low

Russians are keeping a smaller share of their savings in cash than at any point since record-keeping began in 2018, according to Georgy Gorshkov, a deputy chairman at Russia’s VTB Bank.

As of October 1, 2024, residents of Russia held 15.92 trillion rubles ($153.1 billion) in cash and $94.7 billion in foreign currency, the newspaper RBC reported, citing Central Bank data.

“According to our estimates, the share of cash rubles in savings and investments, excluding pension and insurance products, currently stands at approximately 15 percent, or about 15.9 trillion rubles. This is a historic low,” Gorshkov said at VTB’s annual investment forum, which opened on Wednesday.

He added that the share of cash in savings could fall “by another couple of percentage points” by the end of 2024. VTB estimates that 350 billion rubles in savings will shift to bank accounts this year.

VTB also predicts that by the end of the year, the share of foreign cash currency held by Russians will decrease by $3.2–3.5 billion. RBC notes that from January to October alone, the amount of foreign cash in the hands of Russians dropped by 2.5 percent, or $2.5 billion. Over the entirety of 2023, Russians’ foreign currency savings decreased by $410 million, or 0.4 percent. This marked the first time since tracking began in 2018 that a decline in foreign currency savings was recorded.